web sites

> From: rwhitehead at cix.compulink.co.uk ("Roger Whitehead")
>> Subject: Re: web sites
>> Date: Fri, 19 Apr 1996 14:59:06 GMT
>> << formalised scientifically in the Gaia Hypothesis. >>
>> As eloquent an example of an oxymoron as one could ask for. 8-)
[an eloquent oxymoron is a persuasive contradiction ...]
'Scientific' method involves observation, hypothesis and experiment:
How do you progress from observation to hypothesis 'scientifically'
without formalising your ideas in order to test them by experiment?
You are right that the Gaia Hypothesis is regarded as 'unscientific' by
some people (as I said in my original message), but it contains ideas
that have provoked genuine scientific debate about the relationship
between the different, interdependent systems that make up our planet.
My point was that perhaps folklore should not be dismissed out of hand
because it is, after all, largely based on the observation of nature.
Tony.
--
Dr. A.J.Travis, | mailto:ajt at rri.sari.ac.uk
Rowett Research Institute, | http://www.rri.sari.ac.uk/~ajt
Greenburn Road, Bucksburn, | phone:+44 (0)1224 712751
Aberdeen AB2 9SB, Scotland, UK. | fax:+44 (0)1224 716687